Compare Prices on Caribbean Princess Canada & New England Cruises

Great Ports - Disappointing Cruise Experience

Sail Date:
September 2011

Destination:
Canada & New England

Embarkation:
New York (Manhattan)

This was our 5th cruise on a Princess ship; Star Princess, Coral Princess, Emerald Princess, Island Princess and now the Caribbean Princess. First, we knew the size of the ship when we made our reservations but I would say that for our taste, we prefer a smaller ship with fewer passengers. Everywhere seemed crowded and there were always lines for everything on this ship. We had a difficult time finding somewhere to sit for breakfast in the Horizon Court every morning, no matter what time we arrived. Secondly, the entertainment for the ship was really lacking when compared to the previous cruises. The entertainment staff seemed mostly absent at events and lacked enthusiasm. I particularly like to play Bingo and have always enjoyed that on the Princess ships, but I lost interest after the 2nd day. There was nothing fun or engaging about how the game was conducted. As well, in Newport, RI tenders were required for transportation to land. There were not enough tenders deployed and More
hundreds of passengers were held up waiting to get to land. It took us over 1-1/2 hours of wait time. Also, one of the tour options offered by Princess for Halifax Nova Scotia was the Pink Bus - Hop on, Hop off. The line at the cruise terminal to board this had a 1-1/2 hour wait to board it and then if you hopped off the bus, there was a chance the next bus that you would hop on was already at maximum occupancy so people could not get back on the bus. For this cruise we selected anytime dining. We have done both set time and anytime. For this cruise, it seemed like the service was less than what we have had in the past. It was almost like the 2nd string waiters were in the anytime dining room. One night, we left before we had all of our courses because we had sat there for so long and didn't want to wait any longer. As some other critics have mentioned, the carpet was in disrepair. That didn't bother us, but the statement is correct. What was bothersome was the condition of the mattresses. They were so broken down that it felt like sleeping in a hole. For the most part we have always been very happy with our cruise experience with Princess. For the Caribbean Princess, we can't say that. Less

Compare Prices on Caribbean Princess Canada & New England Cruises

Cabin review: Caribbean Princess

This cabin has a great location at the very back of the ship. It is in close proximity to the Horizon Court and Club Fusion. It's at the end of the hallway and has an extended balcony, about double the size of most balconies.

Port and Shore Excursions

Bar Harbor is very scenic with narrow streets packed full of small local shops. There is also a place there (I don't remember the name) right on the harbor that serves a wonderful lobster bake with a beautiful view of the bay with the fishermen all dropping their lobster traps. We really enjoyed this. All of the eateries seem to have fresh blueberry pie. I didn't think I'd like it so much, but it was delicious and I highly recommend you try it if you haven't before.

As mentioned in the review, the hop-on, hop-off pink bus seems like a nice alternative but the wait at the cruise terminal is not. The tour guides on the bus seem to be knowledgeable.

Peggy's Cove was a little of a disappointment. There is not a lot to see or do there and it is about a 1-hour bus ride to get there and back with about a 1-hour stay at the location. There is a light house there, but you won't get to go in it.

Newport is also a beautiful place. The tours were all sold out before we reserved one, so we walked everywhere when we got to shore. We enjoyed seeing the catholic church where JFK married Jackie in 1953 and also toured one of the mansions that was not too far from the cruise terminal.